Advice for Christian Students as They Begin College
NATHAN A. FINN
I have spent my entire adult life in higher educational institutions as a student, staff member, faculty member, and now academic administrator. I have worked for three different colleges or universities and taught in the undergraduate program of a theological seminary. Over the years, I have seen new college students both flourish and flounder. By God’s grace, many of those who began by floundering eventually found their way to flourishing.
The advice that follows is based on my non-scientific observations, as well as some ideas I’ve picked up from others along the way. My primary audience is Christian students who are going off to college, though many of the principles can be adapted to a community college context where the student is still living at home. My hope is that this advice will help students to flourish in college and to continue to mature into healthy Christian adulthood.
1. Get plugged in to a good local church and become meaningfully involved. If you have to choose between a local church and a campus ministry, choose the former. However, participating in both would be ideal if possible.
2. Cultivate a daily devotional life with the Lord. Read and reflect upon Scripture. Spend time in prayer. I’d recommend making this a regular discipline first thing in the morning, but frequency matters more than the time slot on your daily calendar.
3. Live on campus so that you can be fully plugged in to the community. Yes, off-campus apartments are nicer than dorms 90% of the time, but trust me, you need the experience of communal living you will find in a dorm.
4. Aim for at least seven hours of sleep each night, but at the very least go to bed by midnight. You won’t function properly if you don’t get enough sleep.
5. Eat breakfast every day. Seriously, you need to eat breakfast. I’d encourage you to purchase a meal plan so that you have some options every day for breakfast.
6. Don’t text your parents every day, but check in with them once a week or so. If your parents are hesitant to have so little access to you, remind them that you are a young adult who needs to learn to thrive without their constant input. Besides, they (or you) can always text when there is something urgent.
7. Not counting extended breaks, try not to travel home more than a couple of times each semester. At least half of the great things that you will learn in college will occur outside the classroom, so you don’t want to miss any more than you have to.
8. Don’t abuse your newfound freedom by indulging in dangerous or self-destructive behaviors. Part of becoming an adult is making wise lifestyle and leisure choices. More important, as a Christian collegian you want to glorify the Lord in all that you do.
9. Get a part-time job, even if you don’t need it to pay for school or need spending money. It’s good for you to take on some responsibilities out there in the real world. The harder the work, the better.
10. Make friends with at least some people who are very different than the sorts of people who were in your primary group of friends in high school. It’s time to branch out. Just make sure you are positively influencing your friends and that none of them are negatively influencing you.
11. Make friends with at least some people who seem like they don’t have a lot of friends. Loads of college students are way lonelier than they let on, so take the initiative with social outliers.
12. However much time you think you need to study for a course, increase it by 50% more. You aren’t in high school anymore, and if you can just wing it and make decent grades, you are either a prodigy or your college isn’t a very good one. If you aren’t being challenged enough, dig deeper than the syllabus requires.
13. Make it your aim to receive an education rather than to earn certain grades. Seriously, don’t make an idol out of your grades, which are only one means of assessing what you are actually learning.
14. Major in a field you love and want to work in, even if you won’t make a ton of money. Don’t join the countless number of Americans who picked a major because they wanted to make money, but now are middle class but miserable because they aren’t fulfilled in their occupation.
15. Build your schedule around the professors you want to take. Trust me, these people will change your life if you let them, so choose wisely.
16. Get help if you need it. Your school has professional counselors and academic tutors for a reason, so don’t be a hero if you need help with personal or academic struggles. This is especially important after almost a year and a half of pandemic stress and the disruption of normal academic routines for most students.
17. If you run into a speed bump with a particular professor or course, don’t ask your mom or dad to intervene before you try to work things out through processes outlined in your school’s student handbook. Seriously, be an adult, and only involve a parent as a last resort.
18. Attend extracurricular activities. You will never again have the opportunity to attend so many free or cheap athletic events, concerts, public lectures, or club meetings. Just don’t get so busy you neglect your studies.
I hope this advice is helpful. My prayer is that you will love every minute of being a college student and that you will one day look back on this season of life and see how the Lord was at work in powerful ways. (And remember to get enough sleep and eat breakfast every day.)
Nathan A. Finn serves as Provost and Dean of the University Faculty at North Greenville University in South Carolina.